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| Home » Current Projects » Counting on Quality of Place Indicator Report:Water and Green Buildings- A Regional Indicator Report |
| Counting on Quality of Place Indicator Report:Water and Green Buildings- A Regional Indicator Report |
Counting on Quality of Place:Water and Green Buildings
The Center for Houston’s Future has begun work on its third Quality of Place Report, to be published in January 2011. A steering committee, chaired by Dr. Stephen Klineberg, and composed of business and sustainability leaders, has shaped the forthcoming report into four chapters: water quality, water supply, the health impacts of water, and green buildings.
Content expert ‘data groups’ for each chapter met in the Spring of 2010 to assist chapter authors with data collection. If you are interested in assisting with data collection, please contact Sandra Wegmann, Manager of Strategic Initiatives, at 713-844-9324 or email her.
The Center looks forward to releasing the results of the 2010 Study at a regional symposium in early 2011. In conjunction with the Indicator study or ‘report card’, the symposium is designed to educate policy makers and the general public about the Greater Houston region's progress on selected Quality of Place indicators, and will take place annually to continue the dialogue.
The Center's 2009 Counting on Quality of Place Indicator report was released this past January at a Symposium held at the George R. Brown Convention Center.
Here are a few highlights of the 2009 report on Air Quality, Parks, Trails, and Trees:
- Houston remains dangerously just within compliance for the Federal Particulate Matter 2.5 Standard. Should the EPA lower the standard, compliance would prove a challenge for the region.
- Product quality is judged to be better in tree-lined business districts, and customers are willing to pay 9-12% more for products in these districts.
- "Greenscapes" along neighborhood corridors correlate with a 23% net rise in home value within a quarter mile distance, and an 11% net rise for those within one half mile distance from the corridor.
- Trees can reduce summer energy usage by more than 30%, and they reduce surrounding air temperature by as much as 9 degrees F.
- In 2001, Harris County adopted a national standard of 20 acres of park per 1,000 residents. The counties examined in this study - Harris, Fort Bend, and Montgomery, have not yet achieved this standard.
- 91% of The Woodlands population is within a quarter mile of a park or trail, the national standard for park accessibility. Of the areas studied, Sugar Land is the runner up with 56% of its population within the quarter mile accessibility standard.
- Cumulatively between 1992 and 2005, 680 square miles of tree canopy was lost in the region, an area roughly the size of Houston.
- A University of Texas School for Public Health study found a 56% increased risk of acute lymphocytic leukemia among children residing within two miles of the Houston Ship Channel as compared with children living more than 10 miles away.
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 Hard copies of this report are available by request, but you may also download it by clicking on the image to the right.
The panel presentations from this symposium are available on this page, to the right, under 'Downloads.'
Below please find a list of Steering Committee Members for the Center’s 2010 Indicator Study.
Lilibeth Andre, Shell Center for Sustainability
Dr. Phil Bedient, Rice University
Dr. Jim Blackburn, Blackburn & Carter
Dr. Jim Granato, University of Houston Center for Public Policy
Dr. Robert Harriss, HARC
Bruce Karas, Coca-Cola North America
Dr. Steve Klineberg, Rice University
Ann Lents, Quality of Life Coalition
Suzanne Mayne, KBR, Inc.
Dr. Vincent Nathan, Texas A & M School of Rural and Public Health
Mary Ruth Rhodenbaugh, Brazoria County Commissioner
Kevin Shanley, SWA Group
Jeff Taebel, H-GAC
Bobby Tudor, Tudor Pickering Holt & Co.
Dr. Kevin Wagner, Texas A&M Water Resources Institute
Dr. Wil Uecker, Rice University
The Need for This Report
How well is the Houston region doing in terms of our natural environment? How can we measure our progress in recent years?
To answer these questions, in 2007 the Center issued Counting on Quality of Life: An Environment Indicator Report, which focused on nine environment indicators, and was a first for the region. Engaging communities in policy analysis and planning at a regional level is at the core of the Center’s mission. The Indicator Report is an extension of the organization’s ongoing role as a convener for public policy development.
The Report grew out of a “learning journey” from the Center’s 2005/2006 Business/Civic Leadership Forum. Dr. Wil Uecker, Professor of Management at Rice University, has been instrumental in the report's development.
The 2009 'Counting on Quality of Place: Air Quality, Parks and Trails, and Trees' report, recently released in January 2010 at a symposium, is available here.
Please send any comments on the Indicator reports to Sandra Wegmann.
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Center for Houston's Future
1200 Smith, Suite 1150
Houston, TX 77002-4400
Phone: 713.844.9303
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